Queensland’s Rockhampton Regional Council seems pretty pleased with its sustainability efforts during the 2021-22 financial year – including those relating to solar power.
Last week Council released its 2021-22 Year in Review Report, which examines progress the organisation has made against its Environmental Sustainability Strategy. The Strategy outlines actions required for Council to integrate sustainable practices into its operations generally, as well as its community programs and services.
“In recognition of work we’ve been doing, our region won two national environmental sustainability awards in the 21/22 financial year as part of the Australian Sustainable Communities – Tidy Towns Awards,” said Water and Sustainability Councillor Donna Kirkland.
Solar Power Progress
One of the key focus areas of the Strategy is energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
On that front, the report noted increased momentum on installation of small-scale solar power systems at key Council and community facilities. Eight new systems were installed, bringing Rockhampton Regional Council’s solar power capacity to 500kW.
Looking ahead to the not-too-distant future, solar capacity on Council facilities will get a mighty boost with a 1300kW (1.3MW) system for Glenmore Water Treatment Plant in Parkhurst; which is currently under development.
Council has previously stated the project will knock between 30 and 50% off Glenmore WTP’s $1 million per year electricity bill. It seems this system will be the largest in the local government area (LGA) to date.
Solar Power Across The Rockhampton Community
It’s not just Council getting its solar energy game on in the LGA. Solar panels in Rockhampton itself (4700 postcode) are a very common sight on the rooftops of homes and businesses.
More than 2,478 small-scale systems had been installed as at June 30, 2022. It works out around 966 watts of small-scale (<100kW) PV capacity per person has been installed in the postcode area. In other Rockie postcodes (such as Parkhurst’s – 4701), per capita capacity is even higher.
Households in the region keen on installing panels are spoiled for choice, with some great solar installers servicing Rockhampton.
On a related note, Council has addressed end-of-life handling for all these panels.
“We’ve also seen Rockhampton Region Waste and Recycling introduce a suite of new initiatives to divert waste away from landfill, including polystyrene recycling, the roll out of a Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) trial as well as arrangements for diverting end-of-life solar panels,” said Cr. Kirkland.
Council says 100% of unwanted solar panels are being diverted from landfill for reuse or recycling.
Solar and renewable energy generally are of course only one aspect of Rockhampton Regional Council’s sustainability efforts. You can find out more about others in the 2021-22 Year in Review report.
The Rockhampton and wider region are also set to become a large-scale renewables hotspot as part of the Central Queensland Renewable Energy Zone (Central QREZ). According to the State Government, the Central QREZ region received registrations of interest from 67 projects in 2020, representing more than 23 gigawatts of solar, wind, bioenergy, and storage capacity.
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